Definitions

At its core, Metro Detroit comprises the counties of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb.[5] These
counties are sometimes referred to informally as the
Detroit Tri-County Area.

The Detroit Urban Area, which serves as the
core of the Metropolitan Statistical Area, ranks as the 9th most populous of
the United States, with a population of 3,903,377 as of the 2000 census, and area of
1,261.4 square miles (3,267 km2).

With the adjacent city of Windsor, Ontario and its suburbs, the
combined Windsor-Detroit area has a
population of about 5.9 million.[6] When
the nearby Toledo Metropolitan Area and
its commuters are taken into account, the region constitutes a much
larger population center with an estimated 46 million people living
within a 300-mile (480 km) radius of Detroit proper.[7]

Economy

The region's nine county area with its population of 5.4 million
has a workforce of about 2.6 million with about 240,000
businesses.[8] Metro
Detroit has made Michigan's economy a leader in information
technology, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing; Michigan ranks fourth
nationally in high tech employment with 568,000 high tech workers,
including 70,000 in the automotive industry.[9]
Michigan typically ranks third or fourth in overall Research & development (R&D)
expenditures in the United States.[10][11] Metro
Detroit is an important source of engineering job opportunities. The domestic
auto industry accounts, directly and indirectly, for one of ten
jobs in the United States.[12]

In April 2008, metropolitan Detroit's unemployment rate was 6.9
percent; by April 2009, it rose to 13.6 percent during the recession.[13][14]
Metro Detroit shared in the economic difficulties brought on by the
severe stock market decline following the September
11, 2001 attacks which had caused a pension and benefit fund
crisis for American companies including General
Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.[15]

During the Economic crisis
of 2008, President George W. Bush extended loans from the
Troubled
Assets Relief Program (TARP) funds in order to help the Big
three automakers bridge the recession. The President extended the
loans to aid the auto industry's restructuring plans which include
a goal to convert long term debt into equity and to make costs
competitive.[16]

In spite of these efforts, the severity of the recession required Detroit's automakers to
take additional steps to restructure, including idling many plants.
With the U.S. Treasury extending the necessary debtor in
possession financing, Chrysler and GM filled separate
'pre-packaged' Chapter 11 restructurings in May and June
2009 respectively.[17][18]

Detroit has major port status[19]
and an extensive toll-free expressway system. [20][21] A
2004 Border Transportation Partnership study showed that 150,000
jobs in the Detroit-Windsor region and $13 billion in annual
production depend on Detroit's international border crossing. [22] A
source of top talent, the University of Michigan in Ann
Arbor is one of the world's leading research institutions,[23]
and Wayne State University in
Detroit has the largest single-campus medical school in the United
States.[24]

Compuware, IBM, Google, and Covansys are examples information
technology and software companies with a headquarters or major
presence in Metro Detroit. Electronic Data
Systems (EDS) makes Metro Detroit its regional headquarters,
and one of its largest global employment locations. The
metropolitan Detroit area has one of the nation's largest office
markets with 147,082,003 square feet.[26]
Virtually every major U.S company and many from around the globe
have a presence in Metro Detroit. Chrysler's largest corporate facility is its
U.S. headquarters and technology center in the Detroit suburb of
Auburn Hills. Downtown Detroit reported $1.3 billion in
restorations and new developments for 2006. [27]

Tourism is an important component of the region's culture and
economy, comprising nine percent of the area's two million
jobs.[28] About
15.9 million people visit metro Detroit annually, spending about
$4.8 billion.[29]
Detroit is the largest city or metro area in the U.S. to offer
casino resorts (MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity
Casino, Greektown Casino, and nearby Caesars
Windsor).[30]

Detroit's metroparks include fresh water beaches such as
Metropolitan Beach, Kensington Beach, and Stony Creek Beach. Metro
Detroit offers canoeing through the Huron-Clinton Metroparks as
well as downhill and cross-county skiing at Alpine Valley Ski
Resort, Mt. Brighton, Mt. Holly, and Pine Knob Ski Resort. The Detroit River
International Wildlife Refuge is the only international wildlife preserve in North America,
uniquely located in the heart of a major metropolitan area. The
Refuge includes islands, coastal wetlands, marshes, shoals, and
waterfront lands along 48 miles of the Detroit River and Western Lake Erie shoreline.

The region's leading attraction is The Henry Ford, located in the Detroit
suburb of Dearborn, which is America's largest indoor-outdoor
museum complex.[32][33] The
recent renovation of the Renaissance Center, a state of the
art cruise ship dock, new stadiums, and a new RiverWalk have spurred economic
development. Nearby Windsor has a 19 year old drinking age with a
myriad of entertainment to complement Detroit's Greektown
district. Tourism planners have yet to tap the potential
economic impact of the estimated 46 million people that live within
a 300 mile (480 km) radius of Detroit.[7][34]

Today, the Detroit suburbs in Oakland County, Macomb County, and northeastern
and northwestern Wayne County are predominantly white. Oakland
County is among the most affluent counties in the United States
with populations over one million.[36]
In Wayne County, the city of
Dearborn has a large concentration of Arab Americans, mainly Lebanese. Recently, the area
has witnessed some growth in Albanian American, Asian American
and Hispanic populations.
Immigration continues to play a role in the region's projected
growth with the population of Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint (CMSA)
estimated to be 6,191,000 by 2025.[37]

In the 2000s, 70% of the total Black population in Metro Detroit
lived in the City of Detroit. Of the 185 cities and townships in
Metro Detroit, 115 were over 95% White.[38] Of
the more than 240,000 suburban blacks in Metro Detroit, 44% lived
in Inkster, Oak Park, Pontiac, and Southfield;
9/10ths of the African-American population in the area consisted of
residents of Detroit, Highland Park, Inkster, Pontiac,
and Southfield.[39]

The Metro Detroit area is criss-crossed by several major Interstate highways and freeways.
Traditionally, Detroiters refer to their freeways by name rather
than route number. Today, the Davison, Lodge, and Southfield
Freeways are almost always referred to by name rather than route
number. Detroiters commonly precede freeway names with the word
'the' as in the Lodge, the Southfield, and the Davison. Those
without names are referred to by number.

Other major
roads

8 Mile Road, known by many due to the film
8 Mile,
forms the dividing line between Detroit on the south and the
suburbs of Macomb and Oakland counties on the north. It is also
known as Baseline Road outside of Detroit, because it coincides
with the baseline used in surveying
Michigan; that baseline is also the boundary for a number of
Michigan counties as well as the boundary for Illinois and Wisconsin. Designated as M-102 for much of its length
in Wayne County.

Jefferson Avenue is a scenic
highway that runs parallel to the shore of the Detroit River and
Lake St. Clair. It is also the principal
thoroughfare for the Grosse Pointes, where it is called Lake
Shore Drive. Another important dividing line between Detroit and
the city of Grosse Pointe Park is Alter Road, where
portions of some intersecting streets have been reconfigured or
walled-off in order to thwart vehicular and pedestrian movement
from Detroit into Grosse Pointe Park.

Woodward Avenue (M-1) is
considered the Detroit area's main thoroughfare. It is the dividing
line between the East Side and the West Side. Woodward stretches
from downtown Pontiac to the Detroit River near Hart Plaza. In
Downtown Detroit, the Fox Theatre
and Detroit Institute of Arts are located on Woodward as well as
the Detroit Zoo just outside of the city. The Woodward Dream Cruise, a classic
car cruise from Pontiac to Ferndale is held in August and is
the largest single day classic car cruise in America.

Dixie
Highway or (Dix-Toledo) is one of America's historic highways.
Its eastern division extended from Miami, FL to Sault Ste. Marie,
MI. The remnants of this highway exist northbound and southbound
through the Detroit metropolitan area.

Fort Street (M-85) is the only
Michigan highway in Downriver.It extends from Flat Rock to
Detroit.

Grand
River Avenue connects the suburbs of Brighton, Novi, and
Farmington to downtown Detroit. It is one of the 5 roads planned by
Judge August Woodward to radiate out from Detroit and connect the
city to other parts of the state.

Mile
roads

Surface street navigation in Metro Detroit is commonly anchored
by "mile roads", major east-west surface streets that are spaced at
one-mile intervals and increment as one travels north and away from
the city center. Mile roads sometimes have two names, the numeric
name (ex. 15 Mile Road) used in Macomb County and a local name (ex.
Maple Road) used in Oakland County mostly.

Area
codes

Metro Detroit is served by eight telephone area codes (ten if Windsor is
included). The 313 area code, which used to encompass
all of Southeast Michigan, has been narrowed to the city of Detroit
and a few close suburbs.

^Why MITA will be a success.Michigan
International Trade Association. Retrieved on September 3,
2007. "Detroit is the most active commercial port of entry in the
USA." "Greater Detroit is the number one exporting region among 310
defined metropolitan areas (CMSA) in the U.S."

^Why doesn't Michigan have
toll roads?.Michigan Department of Transportation.
Retrieved on September 5, 2007. "A system of toll free highways has
been viewed as important to commerce, industry, tourism, and
general economic development."

July 2004 est. by Census Bureau - JULY 1, 2005 POPULATION ESTIMATES FOR METROPOLITAN, MICROPOLITAN, AND COMBINED STATISTICAL AREAS (Areas defined by the Office of Management and Budget as of December 2005)